Governments at central and sub-national levels are increasingly pursuing participatory mechanisms in a bid to improve governance and service delivery. This has been largely in the context of decentralization reforms in which central governments transfer (share) political, administrative, fiscal and economic powers and functions to sub-national units. Despite the great international support and advocacy for participatory governance where citizen’s voice plays a key role in decision making of decentralized service delivery, there is a notable dearth of empirical evidence as to the effect of such participation. This is the question this study sought to answer based on a case study of direct citizen participation in Local Authorities (LAs) in Kenya. This is as formally provided for by the Local Authority Service Delivery Action Plan (LASDAP) framework that was established to ensure citizens play a central role in planning and budgeting, implementation and monitoring of locally identified services towards improving livelihoods and reducing poverty. Influence of participation was assessed in terms of how it affected five key determinants of effective service delivery namely: efficient allocation of resources; equity in service delivery; accountability and reduction of corruption; quality of services; and, cost recovery. It finds that the participation of citizens is minimal and the resulting influence on the decentralized service delivery negligible. It concludes that despite the dismal performance of citizen participation, LASDAP has played a key role towards institutionalizing citizen participation that future structures will build on. It recommends that an effective framework of citizen participation should be one that is not directly linked to politicians; one that is founded on a legal framework and where citizens have a legal recourse opportunity; and, one that obliges LA officials both to implement what citizen’s proposals which meet the set criteria as well as to account for their actions in the management of public resources.

<p>The study investigates knowledge management (KM) practices in the public sector in Botswana. The underlying premise is that good KM leads to efficiency and effectiveness. The study assesses the KM practices in the government departments by means of a questionnaire survey of senior managers. The assumption is that the corporate manager/directors will know what knowledge is there, how knowledge is created, shared and flow in the organization. The main question of this study is whether the Botswana public sector is practicing KM. Related questions are:&nbsp / What are the views of public service managers/ directors on the benefits that can be reaped from KM practices?&nbsp / What evidence is there that the public service has a culture of sharing information and knowledge? And how are staff members encouraged to internalize and use new knowledge? How are creativity and new ideas encouraged?&nbsp / Are there appropriate technological resources to facilitate effective KM, for example central knowledge repositories and social networking?The study explores the problem and questions by means of a questionnaire survey amongst 43 departmental directors of the Government of Botswana. The overall finding is that information management rather than KM is being practiced. The respondents, senior public service managers, certainly recognize the value of and the need for KM. But, they themselves identify certain weaknesses, such as lack of knowledge of KM among their staff, weak communication inside and across the departments, lack of policy and lack of good KM systems.<br /> .</p>

Women working in the Canadian Federal Public Service (CFPS) face complex issues and competing demands. However, despite challenges such as obtaining further education, managing home responsibilities, and dealing with workplace issues, some have also developed and managed successful careers. Problems highlighted within literature on career development for women relate to the nature of women’s lives with their many transitional points, in which personal and organizational factors inextricably intertwine. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the career development and advancement of women towards and into entry executive level positions within the Canadian Federal Public Service (CFPS). Three research questions guided this inquiry: 1) How have personal factors influenced career development and advancement of women in the CFPS towards and into pre-executive and entry executive levels? 2) How have organizational factors influenced their career development and advancement? and 3) How have personal and organizational factors combined to influence their career development and advancement? This research was grounded in a social constructivist paradigm which guided the research both ontologically and epistemologically. Schwandt (1994) contends that “objective knowledge and truth is a result of perspective. Knowledge and truth are created, not discovered” (p. 125). The inquiry attempted, therefore, to understand women’s complex career development processes from a holistic perspective through their career life stories. Ten women at the pre-executive or entry executive level from various departments within the CFPS took part in the study. Data collection was carried out mainly through a series of three semi-structured interviews. The findings of the study describe how participants’ personal dispositions, formal education, and home lives (personal factors) influenced their career development and advancement. In addition, it was found that the organization’s culture of long hours, its support for learning, participants’ organizational networks, and superiors’ contributions (organizational factors) also influenced women’s careers. This study contributes to our understanding of women’s career development, thereby providing important insights for future research. The study may have implications for CFPS policymakers, career counsellors, universities responsible for educating future career counsellors, as well as for individual women themselves, and perhaps even men.

Women working in the Canadian Federal Public Service (CFPS) face complex issues and competing demands. However, despite challenges such as obtaining further education, managing home responsibilities, and dealing with workplace issues, some have also developed and managed successful careers. Problems highlighted within literature on career development for women relate to the nature of women’s lives with their many transitional points, in which personal and organizational factors inextricably intertwine. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the career development and advancement of women towards and into entry executive level positions within the Canadian Federal Public Service (CFPS). Three research questions guided this inquiry: 1) How have personal factors influenced career development and advancement of women in the CFPS towards and into pre-executive and entry executive levels? 2) How have organizational factors influenced their career development and advancement? and 3) How have personal and organizational factors combined to influence their career development and advancement? This research was grounded in a social constructivist paradigm which guided the research both ontologically and epistemologically. Schwandt (1994) contends that “objective knowledge and truth is a result of perspective. Knowledge and truth are created, not discovered” (p. 125). The inquiry attempted, therefore, to understand women’s complex career development processes from a holistic perspective through their career life stories. Ten women at the pre-executive or entry executive level from various departments within the CFPS took part in the study. Data collection was carried out mainly through a series of three semi-structured interviews. The findings of the study describe how participants’ personal dispositions, formal education, and home lives (personal factors) influenced their career development and advancement. In addition, it was found that the organization’s culture of long hours, its support for learning, participants’ organizational networks, and superiors’ contributions (organizational factors) also influenced women’s careers. This study contributes to our understanding of women’s career development, thereby providing important insights for future research. The study may have implications for CFPS policymakers, career counsellors, universities responsible for educating future career counsellors, as well as for individual women themselves, and perhaps even men.

Internets utveckling har skapat nya förutsättningar för många företag i medieindustrin. För Sveriges Radio AB märks detta exempelvis i den problematik som uppstått i att integrera den digitala verksamheten i produktivitetsmätandet. Syftet med uppsatsen är därför att studera SR och identifiera vilka problem som finns i användandet av ett traditionellt produktivitetsmått, för att sedan analysera och bidra till diskussion kring vad som är relevant att mäta i Internetbaserad verksamhet. Uppsatsen är en explorativ studie av kvalitativ karaktär där vald teori samt två modeller som beskriver kategorisering av prestationsmått och produktivitet och dess koppling till andra relevanta begrepp utgör grunden för analys och diskussion. De slutsatser som framkommit är att de traditionella produktivitetsmåttet tappat relevans och att nya metoder för att mäta output och värde i digital verksamhet är önskvärt. Då output är svårdefinierat närmar sig begreppen produktivitet och effektivitet varandra och ett förslag är att försöka konstruera ett produktivitetsmått utifrån kvalitet och värde på utfall samt effekt och genomslag av satsad input.

För första gången sedan 1970-talets vänstervåg förekommer klassbegreppet i stor utsträckning på den mediala agendan. Trots begreppets ökade förekomst tycks dess innebörd och relevans idag vara oklar.  Ambitionen med denna uppsats är att analysera och diskutera klassbegreppets innebörd och betydelse genom en fallstudie av Sveriges Radios rapportering av den “överklassafari” som anordnades av den vänsterpolitiska organisationen Allt åt alla i början av 2012.   Målet med denna “safari” var att rasera bilden av Sverige som ett klasslöst land genom att låta allmänheten ta del av en guidad busstur i det välbärgade bostadsområdet Solsidan i Stockholm. Denna händelse fick stor uppmärksamhet och diskuterades på flera håll; inte minst i public service-mediet Sveriges Radio, vars främsta uppgift är att förse allmänheten med värderingsfri samhällsinformation.  Med utgångspunkt i detta anspråk granskas begreppets innebörd i Sveriges Radios rapportering, förankrat i klassbegreppets historiska utveckling och med teorier om olika perspektiv på klass som hjälpmedel. Metoden som används är Faircloughs kritiska diskursanalys, där skildrandet av händelsen undersöks i relation till genre och journalistens position.  Några entydiga innebörder av klassbegreppet har inte hittats. Resultaten visar även att Sveriges Radio uppfyller sitt objektiva anspråk då rapporteringen genomgående har ett värderingsfritt förhållningssätt. Däremot diskuteras Sveriges Radios skildringar ur ett maktperspektiv då klassbegreppets betydelse och samhällets socioekonomiska struktur inte ligger i fokus, trots “safarins” ursprungliga uppsåt.

Title: “We become like a little ambassador in the country of Facebook” – an essay on the pres-ence of Swedish National Radio on Facebook. (“Vi blir som en liten ambassador I Facebooklan-det” – En uppsats om Sveriges Radios närvaro på Facebook) Number of pages: 34 (46 including enclosures) Author: Nina Willén Tutor: Christian ChristensenCourse: Media and Communication Studies C Period: Fall 2010 University: Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala University Purpose/Aim: My purpose is to examine what the presence of the Swedish National Radio on a commercial network like Facebook means and how the editors themselves argue about it. For the analysis I use critical political economy as a theoretical point of view. Material/Method: The material consists of interviews made from a qualitative method. The informants are delegates from the editorial staff of the Swedish National Radio’s channels P3 and P4. Main results: Even though Facebook is a good tool for spreading information and getting in touch with people, it still is a commercial network and that cannot be forgotten. Companies use the surveillance structure of Facebook to collect information from their potential costumers so that the users can see tailored advertising on the site. The presence of the Public Service-based Swedish National Radio makes the users want to stay at Facebook and keep them entertained so that the companies can gather more information and thus earn more money. Keywords: Social networking, critical political economy, Facebook, surveillance, scrutinizing, communication, web 2.0, Public Service.

This study examines 1) whether the different expenditure mechanisms used by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) invite different sources of influences on the budget process and thus on the expenditure outcomes and 2) whether the frequent use of omnibus appropriations bills since 1996 has changed budget levels of the institutes under the NIH. The NIH uses two major expenditure mechanisms with very different beneficiary groups: the principal investigator-initiated Research Project Grants and Intramural Research. Drawing on theories of motivations of public officials and of political clout of agency heads and considering empirical studies of the effect of omnibus legislation, this study reveals the following: 1) directors with more public service experience are more successful in securing a higher budget for their institutes; 2) while the directors are found to be driven by public service motivation, when it comes to expenditure allocation between two different mechanisms, they behave in a self-interested manner, representing the interests of the institutional sectors where they have developed close relationships; 3) with ever-increasing budgets between 1983 and 2005, the institute directors have chosen to seek higher budgets rather than merely avoid the risk of budget cuts; 4) although the advisory boards are purportedly used to seek private input for the priority setting, they tend to increase intramural more than external research project grant expenditures; 5) the practice of omnibus appropriations bills significantly benefits the institutes under the NIH such that with omnibus legislation the institutes¡¯ total expenditures have more than doubled controlling the other factors; and 6) there are significant differences in the effects of the director¡¯s public experience and the number of advisory boards and their membership both (i) between disease-focused institutes and nondisease institutes and (ii) with and without omnibus legislation. The effects of the director¡¯s public service experience and the advisory boards have more budgetary impact in the general science-focused institutes than in their disease-focused counterparts. The influence of the advisory board and of the institute director¡¯s public service experience on the individual institute¡¯s expenditure level is significantly diminished by the frequent use of omnibus appropriations bills.

The theme of the thesis is ¡§The Research and Discussion of the Promotion of the Local Employment Policy of R.O.C.¡¨ It is divided into five chapters. The first chapter, Introduction, is started with the unemployment problems caused by the worse and worse situations of politics and the economic environment and the related solutions of the government. Chapter Two, the Backgrounds and the Models of the Promotion of the Local Employment Policy of R.O.C., discusses a series of policies of re-establishment of employment, everlasting employment construction and multiple-employment development, etc. Chapter Three, The Evaluation of the Domestic promotion of local employment policy and related methods, evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of the local employment policy from the points of view of social efficiency and the efficiency of employment. Chapter Four, The Research and Discussion of the Experiences of the Promotion of Local Employment Policies of Foreign Countries, discusses the points which deserve our analyzing and learning, taking reference from the related academic theories and practical policies of USA, EU, Korea, etc. Chapter Five, Conclusion, claims the new thinking of combining the Third Party NGO of Multiple-Employment Development Policy and the benefits caused by the Policy of ¡§Deep Cultivation Localization¡¨ To reduce the rate of unemployment is the purpose of domestic promotion of the local employment policy. Although there appear many disadvantages during the process of practicing of the policy, generally speaking, multiple employment development policy has the advantages of reducing the rate of unemployment, the re-distribution of income, the balance between cities and countries, activating the re-building of the community life and the promoting of local economic development, etc. It is so-called Deep Cultivation Localization which presents the characters and the needs of the communities

<p>Det har under senare år flitigt debatterats om Public Service vara eller inte vara. Vissa hävdar att Public Service är en föråldrad kvarleva av monopoltiden som borde avvecklas och att TV-utbudet ändå skulle hålla en hög kvalitet. Andra däremot menar att Public Service idag är ”viktigare än någonsin”. Vad man än tycker om programutbudet som SVT, SR och UR har kan man inte förneka att det ligger mycket tid och arbete bakom deras produktioner.</p><p>Uppsatsen behandlar ämnet Public Service i relation till det samiska programutbudet i Sveriges television. Syftet med denna studie är att granska Public Service-relaterade dokument, så som propositioner rörande ämnet, vilka krav Sveriges television har på sig samt om de uppfyller dessa. Med den nationella minoritetsgruppen samer som exempel har vi för avsikt att skildra komplexiteten runt minoritets-ansvaret. Exempel på frågor som behandlas är:</p><p>Vem formulerar detta minoritetsansvar och vad innebär det?</p><p>Hur definierar staten och SVT vem som är same, om man utgår ifrån styrdokument för Public Service?</p><p>Via systematisk undersökning av dessa texter, med hjälp av kvalitativ innehållsanalys samt kritisk granskning, har vi analyserat innehållet utifrån våra frågeställningar.</p>